Domain Name News: March 7 Week in Review

Every Friday, DomainSherpa.com provides you with a hand-selected, editorially-based review of the weekly news. In this summary, you will find the latest articles and videos produced by DomainSherpa staff and contributors. You will also find links to the best news articles in the domain name industry – so you don’t have to spend your time searching for news or reading something that was not worth your time.

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This Week’s DomainSherpa Interview

• VIDEO: Using Estibot to Proactively Find and Contact Buyers for Your Domain Name

  If you own a domain name, getting the highest offer possible generally requires waiting for a potential end user of that domain name to contact you. In some cases, you may be waiting years, or you may never hear from the perfect end user.

  The alternative to waiting is to proactively reach out to potential buyers who may be interested in purchasing the domain name. While it may not maximize your sales price, it could produce a sale and cash flow for your business or investment.

  In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Estibot Domain Lead Generator & End-User Finder Tools to find and contact potential end users. Also included in this tutorial are the real results from trying to sell four domain names to potential buyers using the Estibot tools.

  Watch The Full Show Now »

Additional Resources

• DomainSherpa Discussion – Mar 6, 2014

  This is the show where we discuss domain name industry news with a panel of veterans and thought leaders.

  In this DomainSherpa Discussion:
  * We’re separating the DomainSherpa Review and Discussion Discussion shows
  * Whisky.com sells for $3.1 million, TorontoDomainer.com earns a $310,00 commission
  * SnapNames.com sold by KeyDrive to Web.com: what’s staying the same, what’s changing
  * New TLD numbers: do they really matter?
  * Uniregistry.com reverses their policy on reserving domain names; is Frank Schilling waffling?
  * Mike Berkens shares audience responses from a recent conference: what does .com stand for and why that matters
  * And more!

  Read/Watch »

This Week’s News in Review

GoDaddy Has 40% of The New gTLD Market; 1and1 for Its $50m Got 12k Registrations – 06-Mar-14
A new site (or at least new to me) is showing the most detailed stats I have seen for new gTLD’s. According to ntldstats.com, there are a total of 215,638 new gTLD domain registrations as of 16:30 (time zone not defined) on March 6th…
.photos is First Day Winner in Donuts’ Latest Batch of New TLDs – 06-Mar-14
.Photos easily outpaces three other domain names that reverted to regular pricing yesterday. Four more new top level domain names from Donuts launched with regular pricing yesterday: .Photos, .Careers, .Shoes, and .Recipes. .Photos led the others by a wide margin when it came to the initial hours of release. At the time the zone reports…
Google’s First New gTLD Racks Up 2,300 Domains – 06-Mar-14
Google’s Charleston Road Registry reached 2,300 .み��”な domain names on the new gTLD’s first day of general availability, immediately making it the biggest IDN gTLD by volume so far. The string is Japanese for “everyone”. As you might expect, it’s an unrestricted space. About 230 names — 10% of the TLD — are non-IDNs. I…
New Domain .domains Comes Out Tomorrow – 04-Mar-14
New TLD .domains launches tomorrow. Starting tomorrow you’ll be able to register .domains domains. Seriously: anything.domains will be up for grabs. The Early Access Program phase for Donuts’ top level domain .domains starts on March 5. A week later, on March 12, .domains domains will be available at standard pricing of around $30-$40. I’m curious…
UDRP Madeness: Abb.com Files UDRP On 123.com & 222.com – 04-Mar-14
The owners of the domain names 123.com and 222.com have been hit with a UDRP. The UDRP was filed by Abb Asea Brown Boverti LTD which seems to be part of the ABB Group which own the domain name ABB.com and ABB.us with the The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center (the ADNDRC)…
Scott Day & Berryhill Beat Back UDRP On 15 Year Old Domain ICAN.com – 04-Mar-14
The Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center (the ADNDRC) just rejected Galaxy Rainbow Limited and Whole Person Development Institute Limited. of Hong Kong bid to grab the 15 year old domain name iCAN.com from Scott Day’s Digimedia.com who was represented by John Berryhill. However the panel did not find Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (RDNH) although the domain was found to be generic and registered 10 years before the trademark of the complainant
Here are the relevant facts and findings by the three member panel and some of the argument of Mr. Berryhill which is bang on and should have resulted in a RDNH finding…
Tim Switzer Joins .build – 04-Mar-14
Tim Switzer has been hire by the .Build top level domain name registry. A familiar face in the domain name registry business is joining the .Build team. Tim Switzer, most recently with DotGreen, will manage the company’s operations and registrar relations activities. Switzer was with Neustar prior to joining DotGreen. DotGreen’s bid for .green failed…
.build Hires Tim Switzer, Formerly of NEUstar and Dotgreen As Head of Operations – 04-Mar-14
George Minardos, Founder and CEO of .BUILD, announced today that Tim Switzer, formerly of Neustar and DotGreen, is joining .BUILD as head of operations and registrar relations…
New TLD Registries Need to Forget About Sunrise Revenue – 04-Mar-14
New top level domain registries need to scratch the sunrise line item off their P&Ls. I think many observers are surprised by the low number of trademark sunrise registrations in new top level domain names so far. Calzone, a calendar for new TLD rollouts, has put together some numbers and analysis on sunrise periods so…
TLDH Formally Announces Appointment of Elliot Noss of Tucows As “Non-Executive Director” – 04-Mar-14
According to a press release out today, the Board of Top Level Domain Holdings announced the formal appointment of Mr Elliot Noss as a non-executive director of TLDH with immediate effect. Mr Noss is President and CEO of Tucows, Inc (NASDAQ:TCX), one of the larger domain registrars, and has served in such capacity since the completion of Tucows, Inc’s merger with Tucows Delaware in August 2001…
Namejet to Retain Web.com Expired Domain Inventory Despite Snapnames Acquisition – 03-Mar-14
Valuable expired domain names will continue to be auctioned off through NameJet. News broke over the weekend that Web.com had acquired expired domain name service and domain marketplace SnapNames from KeyDrive. The first question to pop in to mind for many people is what this means for competing service NameJet. NameJet is a partnership between…
ICANN Hires Walmart Alum As CIO – 03-Mar-14
ICANN has hired itself a new C-level executive. Ashwin Rangan started today as chief innovation and information officer, meaning he’s going to be in charge of ICANN’s oft-criticized IT systems. He most recently held the CIO role at Edwards Lifesciences, but he’s also held similar positions at MarketShare, Walmart, and Rockwell Semiconductors. He’s based in…
Apple Announces Car Play Without Securing The .com – 03-Mar-14
Apple announced a new iPhone in car integration system and named it Car Play. As was rumored on Friday, Apple is today finally ready to launch a new iPhone integration setup for car infotainment systems. Calling it CarPlay, the Cupertino company claims it’s “designed from the ground up to provide drivers with an incredible experience using their iPhone in the car.” CarPlay is built primarily around the use of Siri voice commands and prompts, providing an “eyes-free” experience where you can respond to incoming calls, dictate text messages, or access your music library…
Afilias Wins .green Auction – 03-Mar-14
Afilias won the auction for the .green new gTLD, it emerged today. Rightside withdrew its application for the string in the last few days, according to the ICANN web site, leaving Afilias the only remaining applicant in the four-way contention set. Top Level Domain Holdings said last week that it had lost a private auction…
Snapnames Acquired By Web.com – 03-Mar-14
Web.com has acquired domain name dropcatcher SnapNames for an undisclosed sum, according to press releases from it and former owner KeyDrive, confirming reports from Friday. Web.com said the deal will be “immaterial” to its 2014 financial results. The Nasdaq-listed company already owns leading registrars Network Solutions and Register.com. It’s also a new gTLD applicant, one…
TMCH Sends Out 17,500 Trademark Claims Notices in a Month – 03-Mar-14
Wow. Just four weeks after the first new gTLDs went into general availability, the Trademark Clearinghouse has already sent out over 17,500 Trademark Claims notices to trademark owners. A Claims notice is a warning that is generated whenever somebody registers a domain name that exactly matches a trademark listed in the TMCH’s database. The 17,500…
Afilias Wins .green to Add to Its Collection of New gTLD Colors – 03-Mar-14
United TLD Holdco Ltd which is owned by Demand Media, Inc. (DMD) has withdrawn its application for the new gTLD .Green leaving Afilias as the sole applicant for the .Green Extension…
Donuts Pitches Photography Related Domain Names at Tradeshow – 03-Mar-14
Company markets six of its domain names to photography industry. New top level domain registry Donuts is exhibiting at the The Photography Show 2014 in Birmingham, England. The show began Saturday and runs through tomorrow. The company is pitching a number of domain names that have a relationship to photography including .camera, .equipment, .gallery, .photos,…
20 .guru Sites Make Alexa’s Top 1m List – 03-Mar-14
Its been only a few week since .Guru fully launched and already sites built on .Guru domains have cracked the Alexa Top 1 Million domain mark. Alexa.org ranks websites based on estimated traffic each site receives. I went through the Alexa top 1,000,000 list today which ranks websites on the basis of traffic and found 20 .Guru domain names in the Alexa Top 1M list…
Delays Still Dog Many New gTLD Applicants – 03-Mar-14
With dozens of new gTLDs currently live and on sale, it’s easy to forget that many applicants are still in ICANN limbo due to several still-unresolved issues with the evaluation process. The New gTLD Applicant Group wrote to ICANN on Friday to express many of these concerns. First, NTAG is upset that resolution of the…
iSchool Will Make Their Proposal to End U.S. Control of ICANN in Brazil – 02-Mar-14
It is no secret that the U.S. having full control over ICANN has rubbed a lot of foreign governments the wrong way. There have been a whole host of proposals on the table as to who and how the Internet should be managed. The latest proposal which will be submitted first in Singapore and then Brazil, comes from the School of Information Studies or iSchool. They posted their intentions tonight on their website located here…
Web.com Acquires Snapnames – 01-Mar-14
Part-owner of NameJet acquires competing service SnapNames. Web.com (NASDAQ: WWWW) has acquired expired domain name service and domain marketplace SnapNames from KeyDrive. The deal will formally be announced on Monday after the closing bell, Domain Name Wire has learned. Web.com employees tweeted about the acquisition yesterday afternoon. Web.com marks the third corporate parent of SnapNames…
Cybersquatter Now Owes Donald Trump $32k Due to 4 Domain Registrations – 28-Feb-14
According to an article just posted by the NYpost.com, A “Canarsie cybersquatter who registered domain names related to Donald Trump and used them to skewer the real estate magnate must pay him $32,000 in damages, a Brooklyn judge ruled” J. Taikwok Yung first drew Trump’s rage in 2007 when he registered four websites — trumpindia.com, trumpbeijing.com, trumpabudhabi.com and trumpmumbai.com.”…
URS Filed On Branson.guru This Could Be a Game Changer for The New gTLD’s – 28-Feb-14
A Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) was filed today on the domain name Branson.Guru. This is the first URS that has been filed which in my opinion should not be granted. The complainant is not listed but based on recent activity I’m going to assume its Richard Branson CEO of Virgin…
If You Pre-ordered One of These .sexy Domains Don’t Blame Uniregistry Blame Your Registrar – 28-Feb-14
So a lot of people seem to be disappointed not getting the .Sexy domain name they pre-ordered. Including myself. While many names seemed to be reserved by the registry over 6,500 domains were blocked by the ICANN collision report…
Qwalify.com Owner Files UDRP Against Qualify.com – 28-Feb-14
Canadian company tries using UDRP to get “correct” spelling of its name. Qualify.com was registered more than 10 years before the company was founded. Qwalify, Inc., a company that services the job recruiter industry, has filed a UDRP (pdf) against the domain name Qualify.com. And yes, this case is as bad as it sounds. It’s…
ICANN to Registrars: We’re Working On Legal Issues With 2013 RAA – 28-Feb-14
But not fast enough for some registrars that fear losing their accreditation. ICANN Vice President of Domain Name Services Cyrus Namazi has sent a letter (pdf) to domain name registrars regarding their concerns over legal implications of the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). In a nutshell, the letter says ICANN is still exploring resolution to…
.wiki Will Be CentralNic’s First New gTLD to Launch, Followed By .xyz – 28-Feb-14
CentralNic’s first new gTLD to launch will be .wiki, which takes a term that is synonymous with online collaboration and high quality websites, and makes it available for the use of companies, developers, communities and hobbyists alike. The first .wiki domains will be available to trademark holders on 3 March when it starts it Sunrise Period, and to others from 8 May…
Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy Protection Loses 850,000 Bitcoins, 750,000 of Customers – 28-Feb-14
Mt.Gox the largest Bitcoin exchanged filed for bankruptcy protection overnight claiming it has outstanding debt of about $63.6 million. The company disclosed that it had lost 850,000 units of Bitcoin, including 750,000 belonging to customers worth about $477 million, based on current exchange rates…
Richard Branson Turns to New Tools to Combat Cybersquatting – 27-Feb-14
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has turned to two new tools to combat cybersquatting in new top level domain names: The new Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) policy and Donuts’ “Domain Protected Marks List”. Branson filed a URS case with the National Arbitration Forum in…
.co Creates a “Pop-up HQ” for SXSW 2014 – 27-Feb-14
.CO creates its own home on the road for SXSW Interactive. .CO went small the first time it came to SXSW Interactive in Austin. It was more of a scouting trip than a marketing one. I remember catching up with the company at the W Hotel that year. .CO Internet CEO Juan Diego Calle said…
Marchex’s Archeo Clarifies 4th Quarter Sales – 27-Feb-14
Last week we reported on Marchex earnings which included its Archeo division sold a total of 262 domain names in the 4th Quarter that yielded $1.6 million. At the time we noted that the average sales price of domain names in 4Q was just over $6,100 per domain name which was well below the average price the company sold its domains in the third quarter of 2013. Today we received some additional and clairfy information from Rod Diefendorf COO, of Archeo on the sales…
AO.com Founder Now Worth $900 Million Purchased The Domain for Around $600k Last Year – 27-Feb-14
Earlier today we wrote about AO.com going public making the founder a very wealthy guy. George Kirikos just found out that the domain was recently acquired by the company in March 2013 for approximately £391,000, which based on the exchange rate of £1.5205 the domain sold for just about $600,000…
The French Really are Different: .paris Announces 100 Pioneer Domain Names – 27-Feb-14
The city of Paris released today the names of 100 Pioneers (Les pionniers ambassadeurs) for the new gTLD .Paris. For 6 months, these Pioneers will be the only ones using .Paris domain names, and will participate in all events around the launch of .Paris…
4 More Donuts Domain Names Entered GA Yesterday. Here are The Numbers. – 27-Feb-14
Donuts’ domain names continue to spill onto the domain name market. Yesterday four new Donuts domain names came off of “Early Access Pricing” and became available for standard registration prices. .Tips I could tell this one was getting traction because Network Solutions was promoting it much like it did .guru. It’s a fairly solid generic…
Whisky.com Domain Name Sells for $3.1 Million – 27-Feb-14
Michael Castello gives details behind blockbuster $3.1 million domain name sale. Michael Castello (with his brother David known as “The Castello Brothers”) has sold the domain name Whisky.com for $3.1 million, DNJournal reported today. This is a phenomenal sale. Michael Castello did a great job explaining how the sale came to be. Here are some…
Disappointing .sexy Launch Shows The Importance of The Channel – 27-Feb-14
.sexy not so sexy after all? Uniregistry’s first new gTLDs to launch, .sexy and .tattoo, have showed a poor first-day performance after the company failed to secure Go Daddy as a registrar partner. During the 60-day sunrise period and the first 30 hours of general availability, .sexy sold just shy of 2,700 domains, judging by…
New gTLD Registries Given Way to Free Up Millions of Blocked Names – 27-Feb-14
Up to 9.8 million new gTLD domain names are to get a get-out-of-jail card, with the publication yesterday of ICANN’s plan to mitigate the risk of damaging name collisions. As a loyal DI reader, the details of the plan will not come as a great surprise. It was developed by JAS Global Advisors and previewed…
While Most of The Domain Industry Debates New gTLDs, 4.cn is Lighting It Up Selling Numeric Domains – 27-Feb-14
While most of the domain world is talking about new gtlds and registration numbers, 4.CN is selling some nice numeric .com domains for big numbers. The Chinese New Year was on January 31st this year, that caused a lull in selling on 4.CN the first half of February. Over the last week things have picked up with some of the biggest sales ever in the history of the site. 920.com which sold on 2-26-14 is the number 5 sale all time…